Shōren-in

This temple is hard to miss, with its giant camphor trees growing just outside the walls. Fortunately, many tourists manage to do just that, leaving the lovely garden relatively quiet, even when nearby attractions are mobbed. Shōren-in, commonly called Awata Palace after the road it faces, was originally the residence of the chief abbot of the Tendai school. Founded in 1150, the present building dates from 1895 and the main hall has sliding screens with paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries. Often overlooked by the crowds, who instead descend on other Higashiyama area temples, this is a pleasant place to sit and think while gazing out over one of Kyoto’s finest landscape gardens.